Request - book suggestions for 21 year old daughter

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I just finished** The Miracle Detective** and it’s a real page turner, well written and very interesting. The overall focus is on how the Church documents miracles and it is an amazingly TOUGH and thorough process. Much of the book is dedicated to the writer’s experiences at Medugorjie and there is a lot of very interesting information about Bosnia and the conflicts in that area. Really an excellent book and something a young person would find interesting IMO.

Lisa N
 
I love theology books, but I also found a protestant series that have a style that is very easy to read. The author used to be a romance novelist before she became Christian. So the style is really easy to get into but it is not at all smutty. In fact it follows the conversion of a upperclass Roman family after they buy a christian slave in the 1st century B.C. She is a survivor of the destruction of the temple. One of the characters is the apostle John. It really interesting and an easy enough read. Acctually there are three books in the series but the author Francine Rivers has written many other books. The ones in this series all have names like The Voice of the Wind or something like that. I don’t remember there being anything anti-catholic in them. It just takes place during the time period of the early church. She has another book that has been highly recommended but I haven’t read yet called The Atonement Child about a woman who keeps a child after she is raped ( I think it is also set during the early church years.) They are fiction but they make you think about a lot of serious issues and they are fun, “light reading”
 
“The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom. Yes, I know, she’s not Catholic, but her story still is still a moving account of what discipleship can cost.

I’ve only browsed, not read, “Junia” and “Marcus” by Fr. Michael Giesler, but the premise is interesting-- fictional accounts of how the earliest Christians would have lived their day-to-day lives. I do hope to get to these myself at some point, but my kids are keeping me a bit too busy these days for much “fun” reading… 🙂 They are well-reviewed on Amazon, though.
 
We’re On a Mission from God from Ignatius, OSV and other catalogs, short snappy, accurate summary of key issues in morals and doctrine confronted by young people today, with Church teaching, and more important, why should I care? how does this affect my life?
 
I want to thank everyone who responded. I have a lot of data to sort through now. Thank you all!
 
Haven’t read the resopnses, but I would highly recommend lives of the Saints. Vision publishes a great series that is designed for children, but even my husband and I enjoy them. Also there are “novelized” versions of many Saints lives. They are accurate, but are reading as a story. I have seen versions like this (written for adults) for Catherine of Sienna, Teresa of the Little Flowers, and others.

She might also get more out of reading a gagazine–like This Rock, rather than a book.

Is there a Catholic bookstore near you? Take her with you and let her browse around.
Mijoy2 said:
I feel I have gone down the wrong path in terms of suggested reading for my daughter. She desires to read a spirtual/religious book but states that she “can’t get into” any of the books I have attempted to get her interested in. When she says “I just can’t get into it” she says it with regret and feels she is disappointing me. She is a very busy college junior/senior with a difficult work and class load.

Some examples of books I have tried to get her interested in, more on the lighter side are:

The story of a Soul
The Screewtape Letters
The Great Divorce

Because of her difficulty with these books I have not recommended other books I have greatly enjoyed:

Confessions
Imitiation of Christ
to name two.

She knows I greatly admire C.S. Lewis and has attempted his books but her claim is they are a bit difficult. The other day in light conversation I used the word, “fluffy” to describe some books that may be out there. She replied with, “Dad there is nothing wrong with fluffy”. I suspect my taste in books (more deeply theological/spiritual) is not her taste. At least not at her present age.

What I am hoping for are suggestions of books (if they exist) that would suit the interests of a 21 year old girl who is quite typical of this age and very tied up in the ways and interests you might expect of a late teen early 20’s girl who loves Lifetime movies.

Of course I am looking for a book in line with our faith. Something to enlighten her, instruct her and yet entertain her. Possibly a novel that involves people of her age and thier struggle(s) with thier faith. Something to help bring her closer to our Lord.

Thanks much,
–Mike
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My daughter is 21, a non-Catholic Christian who doesn’t attend any church, and has slight dyslexia.

She is incredibly intelligent (3.98/4.0 in Physical Therapy), but hates to read, probably because it’s difficult for her to read. She learns by listening and remembering everything she hears.

I gave her one of the Patti Armstrong/Jeff Cavins “Amazing Grace” books (the one about couples), and she read the whole thing at one sitting and really liked it.

I really recommend these books. They’re very engaging. There is one called Amazing Grace for the Catholic Soul that is just testimonies. I gave this book to a schizophrenic friend of mine (yes, she is institutionalized), and she loved it and has read it over and over.

You might find the books “fluffy,” but this isn’t about you, is it?

And I agree with the person who suggested The Hiding Place. This is another of the few books that my daughter has read and loved. (Seriously, I can count on my fingers how many books she has read for pleasure over the last ten years.)

She also likes MY novels, if you want to check them out! They’re written for teenagers, and they’re not overtly Catholic. jazzicals.com/
 
Hmmm, I’m not sure if I can give any good suggestions. I’ma 21 year old female, and have read quite a few spiritual books, but my taste is a bit more advanced. I personaly enjoy books by G. K. Chesterton and others like him.
When you say spiritual reading, do you mean non fiction only? Because I read two really good books back in high school by Frank Peretti. They were Ths Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. I think your daughter might enjoy them.
 
But_for_Grace said:
Another choice would be JPII’s book Crossing the Threshold of Hope. this would be in line with the faith like few authors could ever hope to achieve.
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Oh, this is a good recommendation. I think I first read this when I was not much older than the OP’s daughter. JPII was such an amazing theologian and knew how to address the Masses with orthodoxy that was not stuffy or hard to understand. What a gift he was to the world.

I also enjoyed Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper. He has an entertaining style, and the book is chock-full of comparisons between the Mass and the book of Revelations. Very cool stuff.

I own a copy of St. Augustine’s Confessions. I’ve never been able to get past the first few pages. I can sympathize.
 
Man I thought I was the only one who thought the Story of the Soul By St Therese was a little on the snooze side. Hey I read this when I was around 30 and just never got it was really repetitive and I thought man is it just me or she kinda whining here? Hey I am sure it’s a great saintly book for the right person but I glad that I am not alone in saying that for young americans it can be kinda hard to realte to her Story of the Soul.
For a younger catholic I would recommend the Amazing Grace series by Jeff Cavins.
I read teh first one “for those who suffer” and it moved me, the stories where sweet and to the point and really moving a young woman would love this stuff. Anyway if someone is already inclined to the faith these are the sort of books I would direct them toward.

Lewis and Chesteron are more for people who you want to convince towards the Christian faith or persons you want to read if your an apologist. But light fluffy reads they are not. The Suprised by Truth Series by Patrick Madrdi are light easy to read reads and sometimes quite inspirational even given the short story format. Another great light read for young catholics.
 
I seem to be the proverbial broken record on this one. “Mother Angelica’s Answers, Not Promises”. Easy to read and relate to!👍
 
My 19 year old read Pierced by a Sword by Bud MasFarlane and came back to Church because of it. She couldn’t put it down and now (one year later) wants to read it again and has lost it.

Best of all, it is free from The Mary Foundation www.catholicity.com

They also have free CDs by Fr Corapi, Fr Larry Richards (👍 ) etc…
 
Not a “spiritual” book per se, but I do have a suggestion that might lead your daughter to find more spiritual things on her own.

“Christian Courtship in an Oversexed World” by Fr. Tom Morrow

He talks about developing oneself as a good Catholic individual before we can give ourselves to another in marriage/courtship. He discourages “dating.” I found it interesting as a single woman (albeit way past 21). I think the title might catch the young lady’s eye and Fr. Tom gives a list of additional books for reading plus other suggestions that are really good for young adults in developing in their faith and in general before they marry.
 
How about Rumer Godden’s novels “A Candle for St. Jude” and “In This House of Brede”? She may find inspiration in these books about women of faith, and they’re painless reading. I read them for pleasure while I was still in college, myself.
 
I second, or third, or whatever the count is now 😃 The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. As for other suggestions: were you looking for strictly non-fic “spiritual” books, fiction with a Christian/Catholic viewpoint, or any of both? I know that fiction can have a powerful influence on our spirituality, since most fiction is meant to relate to the readers in their normal, everyday world.

A couple of suggestions:
  1. Madeleine L’Engle wrote a classic series of fantasy starting with A Wrinkle in Time. While these books are meant for a younger audience, I still think that they might be fun “light” reading for a young adult. They carry a very positive, good-vs.-evil message.
  2. Look for some biographies or autobiographies of people who you know lived strong good lives. Or look for some historical books that present moments in history which illustrate some moral points-- i.e., choosing the good side, fighting corruption, making the correct moral decisions even when it comes at personal cost. Warren Carroll wrote some good ones, for example The Guillotine and the Cross (French Revolution), or Red Banners, White Mantle (World War I, 1917).
Another excellent one that just came to mind is the historical-fiction play, A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt. Not very long, but very compelling. After you read this, go watch the movie with Paul Scofield. 👍
 
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